Hoffman had just seen his team hold on for a 52-49 victory in the Class 3A state championship game over Culver Academy and had to wonder.

“How can you miss nine free throws in the last two minutes and still win?” he asked. “And win a state championship game!”

As it turns out, it was only eight missed free throws, but Hoffman had an answer to his own question.

“It was toughness on the defensive end and rebounding,” the Dragons coach said. “That’s how they picked each other up. It was indicative of how we played all year … but not the free-throw shooting and missed lay-ups.”

The Silver Creek defense harried the defending state champs into 37 percent shooting (17-of-46) and outrebounded the Eagles, 35-27.

It helped the Dragons overcome their own early shooting woes from the field (Silver Creek made only three of its first 15 shots) and inept free-throw shooting all night (9-of-26 from the charity stripe).

In the end, however, Silver Creek (25-3) took back its first state championship in any sport in the school’s history. The school joined the IHSAA in 1925.

“They were big and they were well-coached,” Culver Academy senior Ethan Brittain-Watts said. “They took away a lot of things we wanted to do.”

Perhaps the main reason for that proved to be 6-8 sophomore Trey Kauffman. While he only scored four points, Kauffman grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and dished out six assists, also a game-high.

“Coach says ‘if you’re not scoring, what are you doing to help the team?’” Kauffman said of his performance. “I felt it was my job to get the ball to my teammates and help them score.”

Both teams struggled early on as Silver Creek held a 9-6 lead after one quarter and 16-12 at halftime. The Eagles hit a putrid 3-of-17 (18 percent) from the floor, while the Dragons weren’t much better (6-for-21, 29 percent).

The Dragons were the first to warm up in the third quarter. Silver Creek came out hitting 8-of-9 from the field and built a lead as large as 10 points (37-27) on a Zane Gross 3-pointer with 1:10 left.

Silver Creek still held a nine-point, 41-32 advantage early in the final quarter and had a 48-40 lead after a Gross lay-up with 3:47 left.

Celebration after Silver Creek High School defeated Culver Academies 52-49 in the Class 3S Boys Basketball State Final, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Saturday, March 23, 2019.(Photo: RobertScheer, Robert Scheer/IndyStar)

Thanks to the Silver Creek free throw woes, Culver mounted a comeback and pulled within 51-49 on a Brittain-Watts basket with :42 left.

From that point, the Eagles (24-4) had two possessions to tie or take the lead, but failed each time. On the second possession, reserve Nicholas Gravenites missed a lay-up and Silver Creek's Kooper Jacobi was fouled on the rebound with :07 left.

Jacobi made the first free throw, but his second missed and Culver’s Trey Galloway rebounded. In the frantic final seconds, Brittain-Watts found himself with ball just inside the half-court line and his desperation 3-pointer missed.

Gross finished with 15 points to lead the Dragons and Jacobi added 11.

Brittain-Watts led all scorers for Culver with 23 points. Trey Galloway netted 13 points and had 11 rebounds, while Deontae Craig scored 11 points. That trio accounted for all but two of Culver Academy’s points.

“We didn’t play our best game,” Eagles coach Mark Galloway said. “It’s the state finals and you want to play our best. We didn’t. It happens.”

Culver's John Cohen was named the Trester Mental Attitude Award winner.